Houseboat Magazine — January 2018

WWW.HOUSEBOATMAGAZINE.COM JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2018 11

About the Author

Janet Groene is a professional journalist and

a member of Boating Writers International.

She and her late husband, Gordon Groene,

lived full-time on the go for ten years. “Living

Aboard” is a recurring column that focuses on

living on your houseboat. Janet’s newest book,

The Survival Food Handbook (International

Marine Books), is a guide to provisioning and

cooking with common supermarket ingredients

to carry in your pantry. Janet posts new galley

recipes weekly at http://www.BoatCook.blogspot.com. Q

Galley & Bath

Marine toilets have gone high tech, offering all the features of

household toilets. Yet upgrading gets complicated for houseboaters

when new wiring is required for features such as lighting or automat-

ic dispensing of cleaning chemicals. Bluetooth control has long been

available for home toilets and now Raritan

(www.raritaneng.com), an innovator in marine toilets, has introduced

BT for their electronic heads. Yep, you can now fl ush using your

Android or Apple smartphone!

Accon Marine’s (www.acconmarine.com) adjustable, stainless steel

drink and bottle holders bring fi ne quality marine materials into the

galley and bath. Put one in the shower for shampoo, one at each sink

for the soap pump and one in the galley to hold pan spray.

Stove Wrap (www.stovewrap.com) is an inexpensive solution to one

of the galley’s most vexing cleaning chores. Introduced in household

and RV markets, it’s a non-stick, non-fl ammable, washable, reus-

able splatter guard for stove tops. The $25 do-it-yourself kit, which

includes the FDA-approved, food safe material plus measuring and

circle cutting tools, also includes a 16- by 14-inch oven liner. The

coated fi berglass material, heat tolerant to 550 degrees Fahrenheit,

protects the entire stove top, leaving gas or electric burners exposed.

Flooring

Companies like Infi nity Luxury Woven Vinyl

(www.infi nitylwv.com) have helped improve houseboats by offering

premier fl ooring that is proven to withstand even the most demand-

ing environments. The unique, heavy-traffi c rated vinyl backing

makes this fl ooring ideal for indoor and outdoor use on all types of

surfaces.

Infi nity’s product line has grown to over 18 collections and over

180 colors, including the very popular Seagrass collection.

Climate Control

An Innovation Award winner at the 2017 Miami International Boat

show, Webasto’s new BlueCool air handlers feature its Instant Drain

Management Condensate System. Water draining into the wrong

place creates problems with growths, bad smells, wood rot, etc. The

company’s new diversion system doesn’t allow condensate to accu-

mulate, even in choppy seas. For more information on the company’s

compact cooling and heating contact

http://www.webasto-marine.com.

Financing

As lenders become more comfortable with the risks and benefi ts

of making loans for second homes, RV’s and boats, the goal of living

aboard comes closer. An impressive choice of loan products is avail-

able to fi nance or re-fi nance new and used houseboats. For example,

Suntrust.com offers conventional boat loans as well as its unsecured

LightStream Boat Loan of up to $100,000 for buyers with good cred-

it. In the event you want U.S. Coast Guard federal documentation for

the boat, they can even lead you through the process. Q